Does anyone here use a pressure cooker?

If so, what do you use it for and how often do you use it?

I love to cook but I never really knew what a pressure cooker was. Someone was recently telling me that it cooks food faster than normal...like a crock pot only fast cooking instead of slow cooking. Now I'm wondering whether I should get one and would like to hear from anyone who has experience with these.

Why Yes

We do. I grew up with my mom using one all the time. Oh the stories of pasta sauce on the ceiling.

Anyway, they do an awesome job in a shorter time on the one thing you don't eat. But, they also do potatoes, vegetables, apples and more

Ya just have to be careful and pay attention while using one. Ours is pretty much an antique 1971 Presto.

Pork Roast or chops, with rosemary-potatoes-carrots and onions makes the best whole house air freshener in the world. Oh yeah, and in half the time of conventional methods.

Heat the pot up to a high temp lightly oiled.
dry the pork roast and roll it in flour, pepper and crushed/chopped rosemary
Drop the roast in the pan and sear all sides til brown and crusty from the flour
add the potatoes quartered, carrot slices or chunks, quartered onion and a cup of water

Leave it on high while you put on the lid and seal it, then put the rocker cap on the stem

when the temp and steam are close, the cap starts to rock and sputter a little steam. Adjust the temp down until you get a real nice gentle rock and spit going on. Cooking time starts now.

for a 4lb roast, you let it rock for 35 minutes, turn it off and move off the heat and let the rocker cap stop and the steam pin drop on its own. Oh yeah, there is a little o-ring with a metal pin in it that completes the seal when the steam hits temp. Drops and breaks the steam seal when the pressure releases.

Now, you can do this same meal for about 50 minutes and place the whole pot in a sink filled with cold water and quick cool til the pin drops and your done.

Everything in the pot is cooked awesomely, the juices, water, four and browned stuff make a perfect rosemary grave to smother it all in on the plate.

You should watch more TV on the Food Network. Particularly the show "Iron Chef'. They use them all the time.

My parents had one when I was growing up. I think Dad liked to use it simply because Mom was a worrywart and he liked to pull her chain. She was always afraid it was going to 'blow up' and take half the house with it.

FA, the pressure cooker & the rice cooker is, IMHO one of the greatest inventions in the cooking (POT) family the pressure cooker was design to work with a simple & cheap technology (Water & Steam)

using the regular cooking pot, as soon as the water Boils to over 210 degrees it starts evaporating, which results in "not maintaining the amount of steam pressure it would take to cook just about anything in one quarter of the time it takes to cook!

now this where a pressure cooker comes in handy (the pressure cooker only releases the excess steam to keep the operation safe, all the rest of pressure & steam stays in, which results in more pressure is forced into tenderizing anything that your cooking in less than half the time it takes doing it any other way, and all the nutrients stay's in your food,... so yes bring on the toughest cuts you can find

(Murphy's law still has to be taken into consideration," as one should follow all the rules that comes with the pressure cooker) however a pressure cooker is still a nice tool to have around for the times when cooking time is of the essence I also second the recommendation of the PRESTO BRAND..... good luck man

Thanks Winston. My husband surprised me with a rice cooker last week! I had been talking about maybe getting one. He was out shopping and saw one on sale so he bought it for me. Unlike the cliche, I am a women who LOVES to get cookware and kitchen gadgets as gifts.

Thanks for the info on the pressure cooker. I'm still thinking about it...actually I'm thinking more about where I would store it when it's not being used.

Thanks Winston. My husband surprised me with a rice cooker last week! I had been talking about maybe getting one. He was out shopping and saw one on sale so he bought it for me. Unlike the cliche, I am a women who LOVES to get cookware and kitchen gadgets as gifts.

Thanks for the info on the pressure cooker. I'm still thinking about it...actually I'm thinking more about where I would store it when it's not being used.

Good choice. We have a rice cooker and use it a couple of times a week. It can be used for steaming as well as rice cooking, though if we steam vegetables we usuall use standard pot with a basket sort of device.

I haven't used a preasure cooker in 40 years, but the concept is sound. They use water to produce steam, but the water steam is contained under preasure so the temperature is higher than normal, (above 100 C), so things cook a lot faster. The food doesn't have to be fully immersed in water because super-heated steam works as well, (not unlike regular steaming but faster). You do have to use enough water so it will not all turn to steam, otherwise the food will burn on the bottom of the pot.

I'm a bit confused. Are pressure cookers electric or used on the stove top? ...or both. Thanks.

That's a very good question. Back in my day they were all stove-top, but today you might find a plug-in one which might offer the advantage of automatic temperature regulation, i.e. bring to boil, then maintain heat, or whatever.

I'm a bit confused. Are pressure cookers electric or used on the stove top? ...or both. Thanks.

I'm thinking that most 'If not all the ones for domestic house hold use are stove top (not electric)

(3LB) I had a great aunt in TX that lost hearing in one ear and lost partial use of one of her arms from a pressure cooker mishap.

sorry to hear that 3LB,

this might be a good time to mentioned that, unlike the rice cooker,crock pot and the slow cooker, (there's nothing that works automatic on the stove top pressure cooker) it needs your undivided attention when your using it, "I.E this is the main reason why its not a popular item IMO

they'r some basic rules that has to followed every time, and that makes it highly (imperative) that you read the manuals and safety tips that comes with a new pressure cooker

Hmmmm. This is starting to sound like it's not for me. One of the things that I love about my crock pot is that I can turn it on, walk away, and not think about it for six hours. I don't know about having to keep an eye on the pressure cooker. And I think that the pressure build up from the steam would make me paranoid. I think I'd be more comfortable if it were electric, with a temperature regulator and automatic shut off.

Hmmmm. This is starting to sound like it's not for me. One of the things that I love about my crock pot is that I can turn it on, walk away, and not think about it for six hours. I don't know about having to keep an eye on the pressure cooker. And I think that the pressure build up from the steam would make me paranoid. I think I'd be more comfortable if it were electric, with a temperature regulator and automatic shut off.

Modern pressure cookers are generally electric operated and have automatic regulation: see the Wiki article HERE.

Even many years ago pressure cookers had valves that would permit steam to excape before explosive pressures are reached. Here's a quote ...

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Early pressure cookers equipped with only a primary safety valve were at risk of explosion if poorly maintained, allowing food residues to contaminate the release valve. Modern pressure cookers typically have two or three redundant safety valves, as well as some additional safety features, such as an interlock lid that prevents the user opening the lid while internal pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure. ...
For first generation pressure cookers with weighted valve or "jiggler", the primary safety valve or regulator usually takes the form of a weighted stopper, commonly called "the rocker," or "vent weight". This weighted stopper is lifted by the steam pressure, allowing excess pressure to be relieved. There is a backup pressure release mechanism that may employ any of several different techniques to release pressure quickly if the primary pressure release mechanism fails (for example, if food jams the steam discharge path). One such method is in the form of a hole in the lid blocked by a plug of low melting point alloy; another is a rubber grommet with a metal insert at the center. At a sufficiently high pressure, the grommet will distort and the insert will blow out of its mounting hole, relieving the pressure. If the pressure continues to increase, the grommet itself will blow out to release pressure.
For second generation pressure cookers with selectable pressure and, often hidden, spring valve operation, a common safety feature is the design of the gasket, which expands and releases excess pressure downward between the lid and the pot.

My aunt(who keeps the house in order) has been using an electric pressure cooker for years. So says no respected kitchen should be without one(she said the same thing about the million kitchen appliances she has made me buy over the years). We have never had a mishap using them, and I highly recommend them(like I am allowed in the kitchen when she is cooking).